Wait for Tomorrow
by thing.ray
Summary: The pain of yesterday was intense. The pain of today is overwhelming. Is it safe to say that tomorrow should never get the chance to come? Slight AU - Gaara/OC - rated M for mild language and adult themes - Revised Edition!
1. Chapter 1

**Well, how about this? I... apologize for more than one thing of course. But, maybe this version will be more successful. I hope so. This story has undergone, and has been undergoing, major plot revisions for quite some time. I realize my faults, among other major flaws. So, without further ado, here is the second installment of the same story some of you had come to genuinely like. Round two, I guess...**

**Well, here goes. Tell me what you think. Big things are riding on this version. I hope that everything falls into place just the way I want it to.**

**I hope I get the same support as before. For those of you who know of my wrongs, I hope you can still find it within yourselves to like this story. Maybe you liked it before? I'm rambling; forget it. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Welcome to your nightmare  
Say good-bye to everything**

**_Disturbed, Old Friend_**

* * *

He could feel the cold creeping through his limbs; his heart was pounding, beating against his ribcage painfully and urging him to stop, to rest. It was the urgent desire to keep moving, to make sure that no harm came to the small child bundled in blankets blackened by soot, that made him put one foot in front of the other in a painstaking advance to the only place his child would be safe.

They were waiting for him. After so many years of attempting to ally with his wife's clan, it was easy to believe that they would keep tabs on them. It was only right that they knew what had happened. However, it was hard to believe that they hadn't stepped in to help. To think that the clan they coveted the most they had allowed to be destroyed.

"Eiji-san," one of the men standing before him said curtly. Eiji glared at the masked man, and then turned his attention to the older man standing in the middle of his guards. His face was lined and his hair was graying, but there was no mistaking this man for another. The Hokage's eyes were full of sympathy, but his face remained passive. Eiji coughed, narrowly avoiding doing so on his child, watching with a grim expression as the blood seeped into his shirt.

"Hokage-sama," Eiji rasped, taking a step forward, holding out the child in his arms. His body was growing colder by the second, and he was beginning to shake. He wouldn't be able to hold himself up any longer. He knew his life was going to be brought to a standstill at any moment. There was something he needed to say before that, however, and definitely something he needed to hear. "Hokage-sama, please take my daughter. You probably already know by now, but my wife—" he was halted by a coughing fit. He keeled over, tightening his grip on his daughter as he went down. Before he could hit the ground, however, he was caught by two pairs of strong arms. "—her whole village—they were all killed. My daughter… please keep… her safe."

The Hokage stepped forward and reached out to grab the child from Eiji. He stared down at the sleeping baby girl and frowned, his eyes showing his level of disgust for this type of thing. The Third Hokage hated when a child was left without their parents. It was something he had seen more than he wanted to in his long life, and something he wished he could put an end to.

But he knew things just didn't work that way in this world.

"I will protect her, Eiji," the Hokage said solemnly. "She will be safe here."

Eiji closed his eyes, feeling the sudden bouts of relief wash the strength from his body. He sagged towards the ground, and the men holding him aloft gently laid him down. His breath was shallow but maintained an even pace. Were it not for the blood seeping through his shirt and burn marks and other wounds on the visible parts of his body, he would have appeared to be asleep.

"Thank you, Hiruzen," Eiji murmured, his expression content. "Her name is Sumiko. I don't want her… to know about us—her mother and I. Or anything—" he grimaced then, and his body tensed as though a sudden pain had taken control of him, forcing him to stop for a moment. He gasped and his eyes opened wide, revealing pale brown irises. "—that involves us. Do not tell her of the Himura clan; she does not need that burden."

"I will do everything I can," the Hokage promised. "You were an honorable shinobi, Uzumaki Eiji, and a good friend of mine. You have my word."

Eiji grinned and resigned himself, satisfied, as his body convulsed with another coughing fit. He reached up to cover his mouth, and when he pulled back his hands, they were covered in blood. He took a deep breath, his whole body seeming to shudder with the effort it took. When he let the breath leave his body, he did not take another.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, here is the second chapter of the revised edition of Wait for Tomorrow. I hope it lives up to your expectations. It has certainly lived up to my own. I'm surprised with the outcome. Pleasantly surprised. Please enjoy.**

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**We deceive the world with lies we hide  
Behind the smiles  
We can see the home of desperate hearts  
The truth has fallen down  
The illusion we've become  
A fear we can't outrun  
We're closing in our emptiness  
We're broken**

**_RED, Glass House_**

* * *

When she smiled, it was one of _those _smiles. The kinds of smiles that were transparent; the ones that never reached the eyes; her eyes, which were so unlike the others kids' around her. A thing that complemented this odd trait for a child was the fact that Sumiko was not one to be found in the company of others.

On days such as these, when the sun shone brightly, offering the last vestiges of its warmth for the day, and the wind blew lazily, offering a pleasant reprieve from the heat, that she could be found hiding way high up in the trees, staring at the emerald green canopies with an expression that could only be described as envious.

Not even to herself would she admit the fact that she was truly envious of the leaves' carefree dance. Her eyes made it obvious however, whenever the wind would make the leaves sway from side to side, revealing her wish to be like those leaves. It never escaped her notice, how all of the children around her were so carefree. They smiled without thought and laughed without reason. Sumiko couldn't remember a time when she had been that way, if she even had.

Sumiko reached up and snagged a leaf nearby, holding it a few inches away from her face, examining it as though it were a rare specimen. She noted how the deep green lightened as it reached the tip of the leaf, and how the veins bulged slightly, marring the near-perfect design. She grimaced and, with her other hand, reached up and tore the leaf in half, tossing it aside as she reached for another one.

"Sumiko," a boy's voice called out from below. "Are you up there?"

She rolled over, but didn't answer. Today she was high enough that she couldn't be seen from the bottom. Sumiko watched her brother, who was shielding his eyes as tried to peer up into the tree, obviously searching for her. His mind was in its usual state of nonchalance, uncaring if he found her, but knowing he needed to regardless. Their mother wouldn't be happy if they were late for dinner, and regardless of if he could see her or not and tell her, they both knew. She sighed heavily and began to climb down.

"There you are," her brother said, a small knowing smile on his face. "Okāsan asked me to come and find you, but I didn't think I would have been able to. Is this where you've been all day?"

Sumiko nodded silently, walking just a step behind her brother as they headed home. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, noting that there was something different about his little sister today. Regardless of what happened, she always smiled, even if her smile wasn't always genuine. She put on appearances, even if it was just for his sake. Something was wrong if today was an exception.

"Is there something I should know about?" He asked casually, shoving his hands into his pockets.

She shrugged, averting her eyes. She hated how he could so easily read her. That wasn't the way their relationship was supposed to work. She was the one who knew everything; Sumiko was supposed to be the one who did all the reading and making things better. Her brother's problems were so much simpler than hers, and she welcomed them with open arms every time he offered them to her.

But today was different. For once, she needed to be the one to talk. Her shoulders felt heavy, and her steps were slower with the burden she carried. It had been so long since she had last confided in her brother.

"Shikamaru," she murmured, letting her eyes wander to the sky, watching as the sun slowly began its descent. "Have you ever felt like you didn't belong somewhere?"

He stopped walking, his expression one of shock. "No, not really, I guess. I've never worried about troublesome things like that. Is that what's bothering you?"

"You could say that," she shrugged, waving a nonchalant hand. "But it's something else. I don't know. I guess I'm just being stupid again. You always used to tell me to not worry about what others think about me," she paused and finally met his eyes. She noted the intensity of them, wondering idly how such a dark color could be so warm and comforting. "How can I not worry, though, when their thoughts are always in my head? When I walk through the village, it's like a never ending symphony of—"

"Sumiko," Shikamaru grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard enough to make her teeth chatter, effectively cutting her off mid-sentence. She stared at him, surprised with his bold move. Her brother was hardly the one to be impulsive, but she thought maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. She could be wrong, of course. He stepped back and, for the second time in her presence, shoved his hands into his pockets. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again if I have to. Ignore those kinds of people—they only exist to bring you down. It's best if you don't think about them."

Sumiko bit her lip to keep it from trembling. "I know that," she gave a rueful laugh, trying desperately to remain calm. "You've told me a million times."

He grinned and nudged her with his arm. "Then you'll be fine," he nodded. "You've got me. I know you already know this, but you can tell me anything. Well, I hope you know this. I might not seem like I care, but you are my little sister. If you're involved, I'll care no matter what."

The sincerity of his words encompassed her and she smiled. His mind was full of thoughts similar to the words he had said aloud. It was a good feeling; acceptance. She loved it, when she received it. The few people that didn't openly, or even inwardly, despise her existence were the three people she had come to regard as family, even if deep down she knew there was something that didn't fit; a missing puzzle piece. Shikamaru obviously hadn't quite understood her meaning of "not belonging."

"I guess you're right," she returned the favor and nudged him, making him roll his eyes and continue walking. She fell into step beside him easily, mainly because Shikamaru never walked faster than he had to. "The graduation is tomorrow."

He nodded. "Are you excited?"

"Not exactly the word I would choose to describe how I feel but…" she smiled and glanced at him. "I suppose you could say that."

"As of tomorrow," he said quietly, sounding almost awestruck. "We're bona fide shinobi of the Leaf. It feels like only yesterday that it was our first day."

"I wonder what Jounin we'll be assigned to. Especially me," Sumiko muttered. "I was the one that made the class an odd number, remember?"

"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru said happily, kicking off his shoes as he slid open the door to their house, calling out that they were home as he did so. He turned back to Sumiko, who looked a little more than slightly disgruntled. "Maybe we'll be on the same team. I don't think you'd be good with any of the other teams. I'm the only one who knows how to handle the rare flare of your temper."

"Shut up!" She smacked him on the back of his head and laughed, running inside to avoid his retaliation. Sumiko ran through the house, heading for where she knew her mother would be, her feet sliding dangerously across the smooth wooden surface of their floor as she ran. The smells of what promised to be a delicious dinner wafted through the house, giving Sumiko another reason to run as fast as she could towards her mother.

"Okāsan!" Shikamaru shouted, running up behind his sister when she reached the dining area, sliding to halt and doubling over with his hands on his knees. He gasped and glared up at his younger, curly haired sibling. "Sumiko hit me."

"Sumiko," their mother chided, pausing to stare at her daughter with shrewd dark eyes. "Why did you hit Shikamaru?"

She grinned and opened her arms, holding her hands out in such a way that made her seem as though she were going to reason with her mother. "He called me a psychopath."

"I did not—"

"And he hit me first!" She laughed, turning to discreetly stick her tongue out at her brother. He glared at her and crossed his arms over his chest angrily. They both knew she was lying, but it was something that made them feel like their old selves, and maybe their mother felt this too, for she merely smiled and shook her head.

"This again?" She rolled her eyes and gestured to the table. "I hope you two have washed up already. Dinner is going to be done in five minutes, so if you haven't done so, I suggest you do now."

"Yes ma'am!" They said simultaneously and turned, tumbling out of the kitchen like the children they so desperately wanted to remain.

"It's kind of sad, isn't it?" She murmured, glancing at the man sitting at the table. He nodded and sighed, cocking his head slightly as he stared at his wife.

"Kids will be kids," he shrugged. "There really isn't anything we can do about it. They'll grow up when they're ready, Yoshino."

She bit her lip. "What about Sumiko?"

"What about her?" He asked warily, already expecting the answer. This had been a normal pre-bed discussion for the two of them; their worry over their daughter was not unexpected, but deemed unnecessary by Yoshino's husband.

"She's aged beyond her years," she said quietly, ladling soup into four different bowls. "I'm afraid she might find out—"

"Yoshino—" Shikaku said in a warning tone, but his wife continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"—about everything. I can be a good mother for her, I know I can. But she's different, and it's hard to hide it from her. You know what she's capable of."

He sighed. "Yes, I know what she's capable of. But just like I said earlier; it's not something we need to worry ourselves over. Sumiko is a smart girl, so she was bound to find out about this earlier. I know we can't keep something like this a secret for very long, but until she confronts us directly, we follow the orders of the Hokage. We've done it for eleven years, and we can do it for twice more than that. Have a little faith, Yoshino."

"I have all the faith in the world, Shikaku," she said scathingly, making her husband visibly wince. "Let a mother worry for a little while. Sometimes it's just best that way."

Outside of the dining area, Shikamaru and Sumiko were crouched behind the wall, listening with wide eyes. Shikamaru glanced up at his little sister, wondering for a moment what exactly his parents were talking about. He could see the doubt in her eyes; the fear and what was that—happiness?—it was something he had never expected to hear. Not even he knew what was going on. Maybe he would go to his father later and ask, knowing he would never get a straight answer from his mother.

He also ran the risk of getting scolded for eavesdropping. He shuddered, not liking that image at all.

"Sumiko?" He whispered, keeping his voice low so neither of their parents would hear him. "Are you alright?"

She blinked a few times, as if his words had jolted her from a particularly deep thought. "Oh, I'm fine; a little hungry actually," she smiled and walked around him. "Okāsan, what are we eating tonight?"

"Ramen," she responded with a fond smile, expertly hiding the concern in her eyes as she glanced down at the small girl. "I thought we might have something simple tonight."

Sumiko smiled and sat down next to her brother who had already seated himself at the table, acting as though she hadn't heard a thing her parents had said. But of course she had. And it did not escape her notice, all of the anxious glances her brother shot her as they ate and cleaned up and got ready for bed. He said nothing to her for the rest of the night, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to be able to say anything.

She was glad for the silence.

As she lay down later that night, curled tightly beneath her blankets, her thoughts drifted down a more unpleasant avenue, taking her back to when she had been listening in on that conversation; yes, her deepest fears had been confirmed. But maybe, also her deepest wish. For a long time, maybe before she had even known what this strange feeling was, she had felt ill-at-ease. Nothing she could do could make her feel as though she belonged in the Nara family.

Nara Shikaku was right; she was a smart girl, and his wife was correct as well; she was certainly not in the same mindset as her peers. She worried about the things a normal eleven year old would not normally worry about. But then again, could she really be classified as a normal eleven year old? Surely not. Even now, as her brother slept soundly on the opposite side of the room, she could still feel everything he was feeling, and just catch the faintest glimpse of the images that flitted through his mind as he dreamed.

Was this the trait of a normal eleven year old?

She thought not.


	3. Chapter 3

**So the third chapter. I'm proud of it. I hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it. Please enjoy.**

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**When all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do  
And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through.**

**_The All-American Rejects, Move Along_  
**

* * *

The next morning was a series of events that all added up into the Nara sibling's normal routine. Shikamaru woke up before his younger sister, showered, dressed, and left for breakfast, not sparing a glance towards her. Sumiko woke up next, exactly five minutes after her brother. She was slightly less productive, sparing a few extra minutes to lie in bed and worry about the day before she rose and readied herself.

To say the least, Sumiko was highly worried about how the day would turn out. Ever since she had enrolled into the Academy with her brother, it had not escaped her notice that she made an odd number. Each team would consist of three Genin and a Jounin. This meant that every team would be exactly right, until one unlucky squad was chosen to bear her burden. It wasn't her fault for being there, but seeing as how she was, nothing could truly be done about it. They couldn't just fail her so there would be no odd teams, it wouldn't be fair.

They couldn't do that.

Right?

"Sumiko, are you ready yet?" Shikamaru shouted, probably from the front of the house. She knew he was waiting for her but still took her time to finish. In all actuality, she had long since finished getting ready, having already dressed in her usual sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was black in color and held closed with a red obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of charcoal colored shorts and black shinobi sandals. Since she was ready, she truly had nothing to hold her back; that is, except for the forehead protector in the palms of her hands.

It had been a shock when her instructor, Iruka-sensei, had given it to her. Nothing had made her happier than when she had found out that she was going to be a Genin of the Leaf. Her mind had even gone so far as to imagine herself in the ANBU uniform, a cat mask strapped awkwardly to side of her head as she grinned. It was a stupid dream; as if someone like her could ever hope to become such a high ranking shinobi. The only people she believed could ever hope to slip into the ANBU ranks were her brother Shikamaru and quite possibly the best ninja in her class, Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke was a prodigy in his own right, and while Sumiko was never one to hold grudges against people with a natural talent for _everything_, she couldn't help but feel pale in comparison to that boy. He was the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan. He was stoic, quiet, arrogant, and rightly so, seeing as how no one had ever beaten him at anything. For Sasuke, written tests were a breeze and practical exams were, for lack of better description, a nuisance to him. He never showed even the slightest bit of enthusiasm for anything and never lost his temper.

"Sumiko," Shikamaru pushed open the door to their bedroom and glared at his sister, who stood in front of her bedside table, staring at the forehead protector in her hands. His intense gaze softened when he saw the mixture of apprehension and indecision in her bright red eyes, and offered her a small smile when she glanced at him; a smile which she did not return.

"Don't tell me you're still worrying," he muttered, shuffling into the room, shifting his bag on his shoulder as he moved closer. She shrugged but didn't move to tie the headband around her arm in a style both she and her brother preferred.

"They can still take this away, you know," she whispered, her voice breaking ever-so-slightly. If Shikamaru hadn't been listening for it, he wouldn't have been able to notice it. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but she cringed, her face scrunching up with the fear that was becoming too hard to contain. "I don't know if I should even go today. You and I both know that none of the teachers are exactly fond of me. They all distrust me and hate me and—"

He sighed, making her stop so she could glare at him. "You don't understand, Shikamaru. You can't feel all of the things I feel from them. It never stops… even when I do something good, even when I prove to them that I'm _worth _something I—they just… don't change." Her face darkened, and a strange gleam replaced the sadness in her eyes. "Face it… I'm just a nuisance."

"Shut up," Shikamaru snapped, pushing her. Sumiko gasped and stumbled backwards, falling onto her bed. Her eyes flashed dangerously and she stood, moving close to her brother. She was shorter than him, despite their close ages, and still had to look up at him, but that didn't make her any less intimidating. He could sense her temper was reaching its breaking point. Today was one of the worst days to piss her off.

"_Don't you ever_," she hissed, lashing out with her hands, shoving him with all her strength. Shikamaru stumbled and hit the wall, not daring to speak, in fear of angering her further. Sure he had boasted about being able to control her temper, but at the same time, he also knew when to draw the line in interfering, "tell me to shut up. Not today. Not ever. You may be my brother, and you might be smarter and possibly stronger, but I will not hesitate to beat you up. I'm sorry but…"

Her anger was fading now. "I'm sorry but… today is just not the day for that. Please just… I'm not myself. Why don't we leave now?"

Sumiko pocketed her headband and turned on her heel, bowing her head so her hair could shield her face. Shikamaru knew that his sister had it rough, and he felt horrible that he really couldn't do anything to help her; he wished the people in his village wouldn't judge her so harshly. He had found out this morning, a little bit about Sumiko's past, while his mother was in the kitchen and his father was in his study, by asking his father about last night's secret conversation between his mother and father.

Naturally the young Nara had been scolded, but his father was never one to dwell over such things.

_"Otōsan," Shikamaru murmured after a particularly long and awkward silence. "What exactly did you mean last night, about following the Hokage's orders?"_

_Shikaku sighed. "Can you keep a secret? Your mother would flip if she found out that I told you. You can't tell Sumiko, either. If she finds out at all, she's to find out on her own."_

_His son nodded. "Of course I can keep a secret."_

_"Very well," the older Nara crossed his arms over his chest. "Sumiko was brought to us from a different clan that was brutally slaughtered. She was only an infant at the time and wouldn't remember anything. Her father, a man by the name of Uzumaki Eiji, carried her here even though he was clinging to life by only a hair. He made the Hokage promise to give Sumiko a good home and to never let her know about the past of her family, knowing that it would only burden her further."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Shikamaru asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer._

_"The clan she came from was a powerful one; reputed for their kekkei genkai, the Tenkangan; otherwise known as the most powerful doujutsu in existence. The eye itself is said to give the possessor the ability to somehow _peer _into the minds of the people around them. It also gives them great strength in fire and lightning natured chakra. However…" and this is where Shikaku became hesitant. "The only way to create this kekkei genkai was to make a person without the doujutsu and a person with the doujutsu to have a child together. This is what created the turmoil within the village."_

_Shikamaru frowned. "Is it similar to the Hyuuga, where there was a Head family and a Branch family?"_

_"Precisely," Shikaku nodded. "The Branch family felt like they were being used and had no loyalties to their brothers and sisters in the Head family. This all eventually boiled down to the clan's demise. A neighboring clan attacked the Himura and, seeing as how the Branch family was their fighting force, and they didn't fight, the clan quickly fell."_

_"Why didn't the Head family fight? If their kekkei genkai was so powerful—"_

_"They did fight," Shikaku sighed. "But here is their weakness. The Tenkangan drains an alarming amount of chakra when it's used in battle. They flaunted their abilities shamelessly and it eventually became what killed them."_

_Shikamaru's eyes widened considerably. "Do they have a shortened lifespan?"_

_"Not necessarily," Shikaku said in a musing tone. "It can be dangerous if they use multiple high level jutsu in quick succession, but they are otherwise left just fine after that. Nothing too serious will happen if they know their limits and do not try and exceed them. However…"_

_"What?"_

_"Sumiko's father was from the Uzumaki clan," the elder Nara murmured. "The Uzumaki were known for their high stamina and large amounts of chakra. It's not a secret among the village that Sumiko will be a great shinobi. It's possible that is why they fear her. It's not just what she is, rather; what she is able to become."_

Of course, being who he was, Shikamaru had heard of the existence of one other doujutsu, but he never actually knew what it was or what it had been capable of. He had only ever heard of it in passing when grown-ups talked about "the olden days," things he didn't care about. It was obvious that people had held this kekkei genkai in high caution, loving the way it could be used to protect, hating the fact that that wasn't always the case.

As they walked in the direction of the Academy, Shikamaru glanced at Sumiko. Her mood had improved as they moved closer to truly being shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, but it had also gotten worse. There was a thin smile gracing her face, but there was a frantic gleam in her eyes. She was truly worried over whether or not today was going to be a good day or not. If not, everything had been for naught. If it was going to be good, then the weight on her shoulders would lessen.

But only by a fraction.

Because, even if her information at the moment was scarce, this was only going to be one of many hurtles in her life. There would be many more obstacles in her path to true happiness, and many forks in the road. She would have to make decisions for herself. And sometimes she would have to be forced to make a certain decision. She knew that this was the life of a shinobi, were she truly to become one. If that's the hand Fate deemed her worthy to have, that is.

"Nara Sumiko," Iruka-sensei looked up from a clipboard, a frown gracing his young face. "May I speak with you outside for a moment?"

Repressing a sigh, Sumiko stood up from her seat beside her older brother and left the classroom. Iruka-sensei didn't say anything at first, deciding to think about his decision for a moment longer, his eyes darting from the top of the clipboard to the bottom and back again. It was nerve wracking for the young girl as she waited to be told that she was, in fact, not going to become a ninja this year and would have to remain in the Academy.

"Sumiko-chan," Iruka-sensei began, glancing up at her. "I understand that all of the squads have been filled. I've consulted the Third Hokage about this, and he decided on making you an illegitimate member of each squad. Needless to say, you will fill in for missing members during missions, and train with each squad. We'll give you a schedule for that so you stay on track and don't get disoriented. Of course we'll try and work you into a more stable situation, but until then—"

"So I don't have to stay in the Academy?"

"What?"

Sumiko's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink. "I thought that since I created an odd number that you would just decide to keep me back. I didn't actually think that I would… actually be able to… I…"

Iruka-sensei smiled. "I've also requested that you become an assistant here at the Academy on your downtime. The Hokage thought it was a great idea, and the other instructors have already expressed their desire for an assistant. You won't be without work."

"Thank you," Sumiko murmured, sounding almost awe-struck. "I don't know what to say."

"Tomorrow the Jounin have to meet their squads and then conduct any tests they deem necessary. You don't have to partake in any of these, seeing as how you aren't a legitimate member of any squad, but you are more than welcome to. Afterwards you will report to the Hokage and he will brief you about your assignments for the rest of this month. You will meet with him on the first of every month, actually, to collect your assignments. This has never happened before, so you are in your own level right now. I expect great things from you, Sumiko-chan."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," she said happily. "I won't let you down. I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally, Gaara has made his entrance into the story! Ha ha. Well, from here it gets interesting. Everything has taken on a new feel, especially for our favorite OC, Nara Sumiko. Indeed, indeed. Please enjoy.**

* * *

**This is war**

**It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie**

**The moment to live and the moment to die**

_**30 Seconds to Mars, This is War**_

* * *

"Sumiko-chan,"

Upon hearing her name, Sumiko looked up from the stack of tests she had been grading, peering at Iruka-sensei curiously. For the most part, they both worked in silence. It wasn't because they had nothing to talk about, or rather, that they didn't want to talk to each other. It was merely the fact that they both preferred the silence after a long day with rowdy children. It was peaceful to listen to scratching of pens against paper, and also happened to be the reason why she liked her days with her old teacher much better. The other instructors always attempted to carry on a conversation to ease the tension, but it never worked quite as well as they hoped.

"I think you've done enough for today," he offered her a warm smile. "I think you should go home or maybe even get some lunch. You've got a long few weeks ahead of you, don't you?"

Sumiko smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, I guess I do. But that doesn't mean I can't finish my work here. And besides, I'm really not all that hungry, so we can rule out the lunch thing, sensei."

As if on cue, her stomach growled, disrupting the peaceful silence between them and ruling out her excuse to stay. Sumiko grimaced and peered at her old teacher from beneath her eyelashes, hoping he hadn't heard it. He chuckled and shook his head, standing and walking around his desk so he could take the papers from his old student.

"I'm serious," he said. Sumiko snorted and stood, stretching her arms behind her.

"I don't think you're ever serious, sensei," she said teasingly, "but I'll take your word for it."

Iruka rolled his eyes and placed the papers on his desk, turning around to look at her. Sumiko raised a curious eyebrow, but he merely smiled and waved in a nonchalant manner, turning back to continue grading the tests that the students had taken earlier that day. She shrugged and gathered her belongings, bidding her sensei good-bye as she exited the classroom.

If Sumiko was honest with herself, she was glad to have been excused so early. There had been nights when she had stayed until close to dinner, making her have to rush home and apologize to her mother, who always said work was not an excuse to be late. It seemed like Nara Yoshino was unreasonable, but Sumiko knew that her mother cared for her, even if she didn't show it all the time.

Her thoughts drifted back to Iruka-sensei's words. She did, in fact, have a long couple of weeks ahead of her, and would not be returning to the Academy for a while. A week ago, the Third Hokage had summoned Sumiko to his office to inform her that she would be participating in the Chuunin Exams, telling her that regardless of the fact that she belonged to no team; he could not withhold her from becoming a Chuunin. If she wanted to, she could partake in the exams along with Team Eight, lead by the Jounin Yuuhi Kurenai. Of course, Sumiko had accepted the offer. She would never pass up a chance to get stronger, to prove herself.

"Ugh! You ugly wench!"

Sumiko turned, jarred from her memories, her expression one of complete shock as she looked upon Naruto, who was on the ground and bleeding with a young man standing over him, nudging him as though he were checking to see if he were still alive. Another young man, appearing to be no older than ten, was shouting at a pink haired girl Sumiko knew to be Haruno Sakura.

Sakura's eye twitched and a murderous expression crossed her face. She began to walk forward, and the young man who had insulted began to look as though he genuinely feared for his life. It was no secret that Sakura had been teased as a young girl for her… abnormally large forehead, and was particularly sensitive over someone saying something negative to her about her appearance. Of course, most girls were, but Sakura tended to take her vengeance to the extreme.

She slammed her fist down on the young boy's head and then turned to Naruto, who already looked like he had taken quite the beating. Sumiko frowned and jogged over to where the two boys were writhing in pain. Naruto glanced up at Sumiko and gave her a grateful smile when she helped him into a standing position, glancing over at the other boy who was complaining rather loudly.

"Ouch!" he whined, reaching up to gingerly prod at his head. "Is that broad-foreheaded wench for real a girl?"

Almost instantly Sakura turned, glaring at all of them, as though no one would be spared. The young boy gasped and turned, along with the rest of them, and began running as fast as they possibly could, with Sakura chasing after them. Sumiko didn't run as fast, and to be honest, she had no idea why she was running at all. Maybe it was because Sakura looked like she wanted to take out her anger on all of them and she had no desire to get beaten up. Maybe it was because she wanted to see what would happen next. Or maybe it was because this was the most exciting thing that had happened to her today and she wanted to play along.

They hadn't gotten very far when suddenly, the young boy leading them hit a strange looking man, clad in a black jumpsuit and purple face paint, and hit the ground with a shout. He glared down at them, the boy in particular, and opened his mouth to speak.

"That hurt, you little brat." He leaned over and grabbed the boy by his shirt, yanking him viciously from the ground. Sumiko stared in shock, hating the emotions she was feeling from the man in front of her. He didn't seem like a very pleasant guy at all.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted, stepping forward as though he were about to try to help the young boy.

The woman behind the man sighed. "Stop that, or you'll get yelled at for it later."

"We're very sorry," Sakura said sincerely. "We were just fooling around and—"

"Hey, put him down now!" Naruto shouted. "Or else!"

The man laughed. "Why don't we play around with the little guys for a bit longer, eh?" Konohamaru grimaced, looking as though he were having a little bit of difficulty breathing. He began trying to kick the man, slamming the bottoms of his feet against his stomach, but it didn't look as though it had much effect on him. "You're pretty lively, aren't you, you little punk."

He tightened his grip on Konohamaru's collar, effectively angering Naruto further. Sumiko watched with bated breath as he ran forward with the intent to save his friend. The man raised his hand and twitched his fingers, almost as though he were pulling strings. The result was Naruto tripping, though nothing had visibly blocked his path. Sumiko narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. These guys were different from any ninja she had seen before.

"The Leaf Village's Genin are weaker than I thought," he chuckled ruefully. "This won't be as fun as I had originally hoped it would be."

"Oi!" Naruto leaped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at the man. "If you don't let go of Konohamaru, I won't forgive you. You idiot!"

The man shook his head. "You're pissing me off, right about now," he said, his voice reverberating with a silent threat. "Besides, I don't like little runts. On top of that, you're too much of a smart aleck for someone younger than me. It makes me feel the urge to break this little brat."

The other two children, who appeared to be the same age as Konohamaru whimpered quietly from their position behind Naruto. They were genuinely afraid for their friend. Sumiko knew their fear was not unwarranted; this guy, whoever he was, meant every word he was saying. She knew that if someone was not able to stop him, he would carry out his threat. Sumiko stepped forward, feeling a hard resolution form within her. She had seen Konohamaru in Iruka-sensei's class, and though she had never spoken to him before, he was a good student.

"This is your last chance," Sumiko murmured. "I will not let you harm him."

The man raised a single eyebrow in disbelief. "Oh? And how do you plan on taking him from me? Are you going to yell at me until my ears bleed, cry and whine, or maybe you might just attack me? That should be amusing. You're friend there couldn't get more than ten steps before he tripped. Are you a klutz like him, little girl?"

Sumiko didn't say anything; instead she narrowed her eyes and continued stare into his eyes. He frowned and took a step back. The woman behind him looked equally puzzled. They were both wondering what she was doing. Her eyes alone, with their blood red color and cat-like pupils, was enough to make them uneasy. Coupled with her expression, she looked almost as intimidating as—

The man chuckled. "Well, it doesn't look like you're going to do anything. After this kid, it's going to be the little punk behind you that doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. If you're still here after that, we'll see if your bite is better than your bark."

He pulled back his fist, aiming to hit Konohamaru. Naruto shouted and surged forward, and though she wanted to do the same, Sumiko was frozen with shock; was he actually going to hit the boy? Before anything else could happen, Konohamaru fell out of harms way, the man hissed in pain, and a rock shattered the tense silence when it clattered noisily to the ground. Sumiko, sensing a presence above her in the trees, turned to stare up at Uchiha Sasuke, who was tossing a rock into the air and catching it effortlessly, his cold black eyes trained on the scene below.

"What do you think you're doing in someone else's village?" He called down to the man, his voice brimming with barely contained arrogance.

Sakura visibly brightened. "Sasuke-kun!"

"Another punk to piss me off," the man growled, massaging his wrist. He looked positively furious.

Sasuke stopped throwing the rock and narrowed his eyes as his fist tightened. The powder from the crushed rock drained from his hand slowly. "Get lost."

"Get down here," the man said his voice deceptively calm. "You're the kind of smart aleck little punk that I hate the most." He yanked at the strange obstruction on his back, and the woman behind him gasped in surprise.

"Oi, you're not thinking of using Crow, are you?"

"Kankurou, stop that," Sumiko tensed, her eyes visibly widening. A feeling that she had never felt before, nor a feeling that she had ever felt from someone else before, surged through her body. Her heart rate doubled and her breath hitched in her throat. This feeling—no, this _desire_, this overwhelming urge for blood; it was not hers. It was coming from someone else, someone who had not been here moment ago. It was coming from the same voice that had spoken just now.

"You're an embarrassment to our village," the voice continued apathetically. "Why do you think we came all the way here to the Leaf Village?"

"G-Gaara," the man chuckled nervously. The threat Sumiko had felt within him had vanished completely and had been replaced with outright fear. Was this newcomer dangerous to the point that this man, whoever he was, could truly fear him like he did? "Just hear me out! They lashed out first—"

"Shut up," the boy whom the man had called Gaara ordered. The man, whom Gaara had called Kankurou, visibly winced. "I'll kill you."

Kankurou used this threat as his chance to makes amends. "U-understood! I was wrong." He raised his hands in a placating manner. "I-I'm sorry… I'm really sorry."

Gaara's eyes narrowed slowly and he suddenly disappeared from his perch in the tree, only to reappear in front of Sumiko, facing his comrades. "Let's go. We didn't come here to play around."

Sumiko stepped forward and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. His already rigid posture stiffened impossibly more. "You aren't going anywhere. Who're you and why are you here? If you honestly think that we're going to let outsiders stay in the village and run around, you just might have lost your mind."

"Get your hand off of me," Gaara hissed, though he didn't move. Sumiko narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on his shoulder, using her hold to spin him around to face her so she could get a better look at him. His eyes were an interesting shade of green; almost the color of sea foam, and charcoal black rings surrounded his eyes, effectively bringing the color out even more. His spiky and unruly hair was a dark shade of red, resembling the color of blood. In the exact same color, on the left side of his head, was the kanji for love.

"I'm not going to until you answer my questions," Sumiko said briskly. It unnerved her that the only thing she could sense from this boy was his overwhelming desire to kill. Even when she reached forward with her mind, there was no getting around it. This desire was the dominant emotion within him. If he was human at all, it was only just barely.

"Gaara of the Desert," he said tightly, obviously trying to remain as calm as possible. Sumiko nodded once and shifted her weight from her right foot to her left, raising a single eyebrow, obviously waiting for the next answer. He didn't speak after that, however. He was obviously not waiting patiently, but he would not say another word.

"Your stubbornness is worse than mine," she chuckled, loosening her grip on his shoulder and lightly pushing him away. "My name is Nara Sumiko. If you're here for the Chuunin Exams, I expect to see you soon. I may not look it, but I'm pretty strong. Maybe we'll even get the chance to fight each other."

She grinned and nudged his shoulder with her fist. His impassive expression scrunched into a grimace and he moved a few step backs, closer to his comrades. Sumiko placed her hands on her hips and glanced between the three of them. The taller one, though obviously not the eldest, looked like he was about to pass out. His thoughts were as equally shocked as he appeared to be on the outside. Apparently, the last person who had been able to lay a hand on his—younger brother?—had been killed. The woman, who was just shorter than Kankurou, but taller than Gaara and obviously the eldest, felt almost _chagrined._ Sumiko wondered why she would feel that way, but shrugged it off, not bothering to pry further.

Trying to see into Gaara's mind, who was the shortest, though not shorter than Sumiko, and obviously the youngest sibling of the three, was absolutely pointless. His animalistic desire, which he could only just barely suppress, Sumiko knew, was the most likely emotion to be blocking her from seeing into his mind. She had heard of measures that had been taken against people like her; people who could somehow read the minds of others, but none of them had been an absolute defense. They either wore off quickly or did not completely shield their mind.

It made her curious as to how this boy was capable of it, regardless of his blood lust. Surely it couldn't just be that blocking her from his mind; it made her want to probe deeper, to figure him out, if only just a little bit. She was truly fascinated by him, and would be exceedingly disappointed if she did not get the chance to see him again.

"Highly unlikely," he murmured in his low voice, stepping back another step and turning on his heel. The three siblings began walking away then, not bothering to glance back. Sumiko crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips as her mind began going through all possible ways to see him—the boy with the insatiable thirst to kill—again.

"Sumiko," she glanced at Sasuke, who was standing directly beside her. He was staring after them, expressions of disdain, curiosity, and irritation warring for dominance over his face. "What are you thinking about?"

She shrugged. "That _Gaara of the Desert,_" she scoffed. "He was one interesting kid."

"You're taking the Chuunin Exams?" He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. Sumiko nodded, shifting slightly so her body was half-turned towards him. He was thinking about something, shew knew it, but was hiding it from her. Her abilities were no secret among the villagers, but the fact that he was purposefully hiding his thoughts made her highly suspicious. Sumiko narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly, scrutinizing him.

"I am," she said shortly. "Why?"

"Don't underestimate him," he said quietly. "I couldn't sense him until he spoke earlier. He's on a completely different level from any of us."

She nodded. "I knew that already."

"What are you going to do?" He asked. "I see it in your eyes. You're planning something."

She chuckled. "I don't have a plan, per se. I guess I'll just throw caution to wind and do whatever I deem necessary. He may be dangerous… but he's fascinating."

She paused.

Then to herself she added, _"I'll figure him out."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys- thought I'd update one more time. I may not update again for the next few days, because the next chapter begins the Chuunin Exams and I kind of need to make sure those are exciting chapter. You know? So instead I decided to give you guys a little brother/sister moment between Shikamaru and Sumiko. I feel like I haven't shown a lot of affection b/w the two in this version, and I think this kind of shows how they feel towards each other. It's a sweet little filler chapter, I think. Don't be afraid to tell me what you guys think. Some ideas for the next chapter? Critique? Hate? Anything is okay. I wanna know what my readers think. ^_^**

**Please enjoy.**

* * *

**Hold me now,**  
**'Til the fear is leaving,**  
**I am barely breathing.**

_**RED, Hold Me Now**_

* * *

The ground beneath her feet surged upwards, the jaws of the earth gaping as it swallowed her. It was pointless to scream; she wanted to but she had already tried. Her voice was gone; no sound came out. The emotions swirled within her; around her, stabbing her, prodding her, burning her alive. It was a sensation she would not wish on her worst enemy.

The pain began in each of her joints and seared up and down her body and back again. She didn't need to scream; it was obvious how much pain she was in. From her dark prison, she could hear the laughter; the jeering remark of _this is what monsters deserve. _She could feel their eyes, burning holes through the walls of her earthy prison, accusing her for something she had no control over.

Tears that burned more than the nonexistent fire that licked at her skin seared down her cheeks, reminding her just how pathetic she really was. She could not deny it anymore. A false hope had manifested within her heart, and she had foolishly thought that things would get better. People would stop hating her so fiercely. They would begin to trust her, for the first time since she didn't know when. Had people even trusted her before? She didn't know, but at the same time, she didn't want to know. The past would remain in the past.

All she wanted was a better future.

_How pathetic._

Slowly, as though she were waiting for something bad to happen as she woke up, she opened her eyes. Her surroundings were dark and shrouded in shadows. It was nearly impossible to discern whether or not she was actually awake and lying in her bed, or if she was still in her prison, trapped to suffer in her dreams. Sumiko reached a shaking hand up and twisted her skin between her thumb and forefinger, hissing quietly at the pain, and then shuddering in relief.

She was awake.

Her eyes slid to where her brother was sleeping, as peacefully as ever, his mind dark—absent of the dreams and nightmares she was plagued with every night. Sumiko pressed the palm of her hand to her forehead for a brief moment, closing her eyes, trying to force the images and feelings from her mind. If she ever hoped to go back to sleep, she couldn't see these things again. They needed to be expelled from her mind, but her usual routine didn't seem to have any effect on her tonight. The backs of her eyelids replayed her dreams with picture-perfect clarity, showing her every last gruesome detail of her nightmare. Her breath hitched in her throat and she bit her lip, opening her eyes to stop the instant replay.

Sumiko pushed her blanket away and slid off her bed, side-stepping the creaky floorboard as she made her way over to her brother, whom she gently poked and prodded, trying to wake him up as kindly as was possible in her current state of mind. He groaned, his voice muffled by his pillow, and rolled over to glare at her through narrowed eyes. His eyes then shifted to the clock on his bedside table and his glare intensified.

"It's not time to wake up," he mumbled groggily. "Why the hell are you up this early, and waking me up with you?"

She reached up and bit her forefinger, debating on whether she should tell him to forget it and go back to sleep or ask him if she could sleep with him for the remainder of the night. It was an old habit that she'd had ever since she was younger and had nightmares. It was something that had soothed her greatly, because her brother never failed to make her feel welcome after a nightmare.

"I had a nightmare," she whispered, hating how childlike she sounded in that moment. Shikamaru sighed, his glare softening as he shifted closer to the other side of the bed. Sumiko, made weak by her sudden relief, peeled back the blanket and slid into the bed beside her brother, curling up against him and resting her head against his chest.

"We're getting too old for this," he mumbled sleepily, letting his arm wrap around her waist. "What are you going to do when you get a place of your own? I'm not going to be there all the time."

She shuddered involuntarily. "I don't think about it. I'll worry about that time when it gets here."

"What was it about this time?" He asked his voice gentle.

"I was burning," she closed her eyes, repressing a shudder and curling closer to her brother. "They were burning me. I was trapped. I could feel them all around me. It was the same as every other dream in a way. I felt hopeless. Abandoned. Hated."

Shikamaru sighed and shifted so he could look at her. Her eyes were closed and her body shook ever so slightly when she breathed out, almost as though with every breath she was trying to forget the dream. He had always hated when she came to him in this state; it pained him to see his little sister in such a state. He didn't understand everything she felt half of the time, and though he tried his best, all he could ever do was give her a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. That is, when she got to that point. Sumiko hadn't confided in him as much in the past year or so, and he had automatically assumed it was because she was getting better; becoming happier.

He had obviously been mistaken.

"Was I in your dream?" He asked hesitantly, as he always had whenever she came to him like this.

She shook her head. "No, you weren't there. Everyone else was though. _Everyone_."

He didn't misunderstand that. Sumiko must have seen their mother and father there too, along with people he knew she cared for and respected because they gave her that acceptance she wanted so badly. The few people at the Academy that were beginning to trust her, or had long since trusted her, had probably been the main antagonists in her nightmare. She had told Shikamaru what her dream had been about, but he couldn't even begin to fathom exactly what she had _felt. _

"Well then," he murmured, shifting again so he could lie back down properly. "It's safe to assume that I'll always be there to make you feel better. You know that I've never been one of those people who didn't trust you. That's why I wasn't there. Because no matter what everyone else said to me, I was always there. I never once thought that you deserved the distrust you received."

"I know that," she sighed. "But you're never in my dreams. Aren't dreams supposed to have someone saving them at the end if they're in trouble?"

Shikamaru chuckled quietly. "It doesn't always work out that way. And even if I wasn't there to help you in your dream, I'm here to help you in real life. Isn't that what matters the most?"

"I suppose you're right," Sumiko smiled, and then she allowed herself a quiet laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"We really are a little too old for this," she giggled. "If your bed wasn't against the wall, you'd have fallen off by now, huh, onii-san?"

He sighed. "Yeah…" he paused. "Do you think… by any chance… you could go back to your bed now, Sumiko?"

"Nope," she murmured cheerily. "If I do, and I actually go back to sleep, I might have another nightmare. It's really not worth it. Besides, do you really want me to wake you up again?"

"I don't even think I'll be able to go back to sleep now," he muttered irritably.

"Liar," she grinned and glanced up at Shikamaru. "You and I both know you could fall asleep standing up if you really wanted to. You're just that good at being lazy."

With that said, they lapsed into amiable silence. Sumiko closed her eyes and relaxed, happy that the frightening darkness and burning sensations were completely gone now, and Shikamaru shifted again, trying in vain to get comfortable. His back was pressed awkwardly against the wall, his right arm was draped over his sister's waist, and his left arm was beneath her head, because if he had it anywhere else, it too would be in a painfully awkward position.

If this persisted, he was going to need a bigger bed.

"Onii-san?"

"I thought you were going to bed now?" He asked, disgruntled that she had successfully stopped him from falling asleep. He had been, at the very least, two more minutes away from going back to his peaceful and dreamless sleep.

"Just thought I should tell you something," she whispered.

He grimaced. "Well, spit it out."

"I love you."

Shikamaru smiled and rolled his eyes. "Is that it?"

"Shikamaru…" she said in a warning tone. He could hear the teasing note, but he took her seriously nonetheless.

"Alright, alright," he sighed. "I love you, too. Even if you are sometimes annoying and wake me up from a really good sleep. That could stop, you know. If you really loved me, you'd—ouch!"

Sumiko laughed and then stretched upwards, pressing her lips to the spot where she had smacked him—directly in the middle of his forehead. He made a gagging noise and wiped frantically at his forehead, as he done once before many years ago, when she had done something similar.

"You should have seen that coming, you know," she said happily.

He rolled his eyes, but couldn't hide his smile. "Shaddup."


	6. Chapter 6

**So what has it been; one week, two weeks since the last time I updated? I guess just about that much time. I apologize. This chapter was exceedingly hard to write. I wanted to make it relatively long, to make up for the wait, but I also wanted to make it interesting. You know?**

**_***_ Also, a heads up, because Sumiko is on Team Eight, I'll probably skip right through the second exam and move on to the preliminaries. What do you guys think? Would that make it more confusing or should I make a filler chapter where she gets to see Gaara kill some people? Maybe it'll strike some fear into her, make her more cautious. It might actually work out, if I do that, later on in the story. I've got some interesting stuff planned. **

**Tell me your opinions. What should I do for the next chapter? No second exam or second exam? Filler or no filler? Lemme know, and please enjoy.**

* * *

**Cause you cant unlive ****the pain**

**You cant rewind to yesterday**

**You might never find your place, in the time that remains**

**So if tomorrow never comes,**

**From living fast and dying young,**

**I hope the best has yet to come in that**

** time that remains for you**

_**Three Days Grace, Time That Remains**_

* * *

Despite her calm facade, the tension in the room was enough to keep her heart beating faster than normal. It was also enough to prevent her from sitting down, due to the restless energy that assaulted her nerves, making her an absolute wreck. If it weren't for the fact that she had gotten so good at hiding the fact that she was being influenced by the emotions around her, her brother, or even her teammates who didn't know her as well, would be able to tell that she was becoming unhinged.

The first part of the Chuunin Exam was mere moments away; she didn't have time to be worrying like this. And yet all the fears of the people surrounding her were swarming back to her; pure, undiluted terrors of failing and being sent back home in utter disgrace. It was inevitable, in her opinion that she began to think of those very same things.

What if she was cast away in shame? Did she really have the potential to become a Chuunin? Did she deserve the Hokage's faith that she would do well? None of these questions eased her fears in the slightest, but in fact only succeeded in making her even tenser. Her body was rigid, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Anyone could see that Sumiko was uncomfortable, but she couldn't relax a single muscle. Not until she knew she had successfully completed phase one of the exams.

The proctor, who had introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, was a harsh looking man. His appearance did nothing to soothe Sumiko's new found fears. The man's demeanor alone would be enough to intimidate men that were twice his size. Ibiki radiated strength and confidence, and his threats and condescending smirk only proved to exacerbate Sumiko's fear of failing.

As the test takers moved forward, one by one, handing over their paperwork to a Chuunin standing by the door that gave them numbers in return, Sumiko shuffled behind her teammates, allowing herself to be pushed towards the back of the crowd, wanting nothing more than to be as far away from Ibiki as possible, knowing he would be at the front of the room at all times. Of course, they were handing numbers out at random, and she could very well get a front row seat, but it didn't hurt to hope that luck favored her today.

Sumiko willed her hand to stop shaking as she held out her permit, waiting for a few anxious seconds for the number that, she knew, would determine her pass or fail. If she sat near Ibiki, she would never be able to concentrate. For some unfathomable reason, his presence shook her to her core, and she didn't like it at all. She was sure that he did the same thing to some of the other people around her, but she couldn't tell. Her senses had been hampered by her fears.

"Calm down, Sumiko," said a voice by her ear. "I can feel you shaking from here."

Sumiko squeaked and turned, nearly falling over. Shikamaru raised a single eyebrow, wondering what could possibly have his sister so worked up over a single test. He knew that her ability allowed her to breeze through a test with no issues; she never had to study for a single thing. Yet, she looked as nervous and unhinged as Naruto had when he had found out the first part of the Chuunin Exam was going to be a written test.

"Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Where are you sitting?"

"Somewhere over there," he said, pointing to the right of the room, in the middle. He didn't look particularly pleased. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah I just…" she bit her lip, considering her words. "I just got ahead of myself for a second is all. You know how my thoughts move a mile a minute."

Shikamaru, unconvinced, nodded. "Okay well, good luck."

"You too," Sumiko smiled and gave her brother a quick hug before turning on her heel to find her number. Her eyes skimmed the seats, searching. A quick flood of relief washed through her upon realizing that her number was nowhere near the front. But then, when she found her number, the relief turned into a mixture of apprehension and intrigue.

There, one row in front of her, sat Gaara of the Desert. Sumiko couldn't believe that he was so close, almost close enough for her to touch. She quickly moved to her seat and sat down, wondering for a moment if she could grab his attention and say something. Just like last time, she could feel nothing from him, except for that same exact blood lust. The only difference in this time was the fact that it wasn't near boiling point and he wasn't ready to act on his whims. This urge was dormant within him now. Sumiko thought that since his desire to kill was lying low for the moment she would be able to see into his mind.

She closed her eyes and pictured herself reaching forward, delving into the dark recesses of his mind. But that's all it was; dark. She reached out blindly, searching for some emotion or thought to latch onto, but there was none. There was absolutely nothing. Sumiko grimaced and rubbed her eyes; she hadn't even scratched the surface. That is, if there was even a surface to scratch. Did Gaara have some sort of unconscious defense against her gift or was he really just _that _empty?

When she opened her eyes, his body was half turned towards her and he was staring at her, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Sumiko leaned forward on her elbows and rested her chin in her hands, gazing at him with the same intensity. It felt like he was silently daring her to look away from him, as though when she did, he would show her why it had been a mistake. A shiver ran down her spine, but she never looked away from him. For once in her life, it felt as though she was being read; it felt like he was the one with the gift to see into the minds of others. His eyes gave off the impression that he could see straight through her and into her soul. It was unnerving. It was exhilarating.

"Gaara, was it?" She asked quietly, letting the words roll smoothly off her tongue. Sumiko sounded more confident than she felt.

Gaara didn't say a word, just continued to stare at her. It was obvious that he had felt her presence in his mind just a moment ago. She hadn't gotten far, but far enough to make him feel the invasion. His violent urges spiked suddenly, but only by a fraction of the amount they usually did. More than anything, this girl confused him. The way she could stare at him as though he were a normal boy, the way she could touch him as though he were of no danger to anyone, when he so obviously was; he, more than anything, wanted to figure her out. He didn't know how he was going to do it. Gaara figured it would have to be by force; it was possible the only way to get anything from her was to threaten to kill her. And then when he had gleaned every last bit of information from her, then he could give in and kill her. The monster within him stirred in gleeful response to his thoughts of killing.

Sumiko sighed and leaned back in her seat, watching as he turned his back to her. It was irritating how he could so easily ignore her. She supposed it was possible that he didn't find it easy at all, but that it was easy for him to make it seem as though it were easy. It was kind of confusing, and Sumiko let it slide for the moment. She had a test to worry about.

"Begin!"

Sumiko flipped over the sheet of paper in front of her and began skimming over the questions, just out of curiosity, as well as allowing the people around her time to answer. The questions themselves were something that she didn't even think a Chuunin could answer. Sumiko believed that Haruno Sakura or Uchiha Sasuke could answer these questions with relative ease, but she herself knew that, if it weren't for her gift, she would not be able to answer any of these questions and she would, without a doubt, fail miserably.

With a quiet sigh she looked up from her paper to look around the room. People were in various states of terror, ease, and moderate worry. She was among the many that only feared a little bit. Once she had waited a few minutes she would begin to probe the minds of the people around her in search of the answer.

She had never really considered that this test might be for the very purpose of cheating. To gather over a hundred Genin from various villages who probably had only a little less knowledge and training—give or take—than the average Chuunin, and make them answer questions such as the ones in front of them, seemed almost cruel. Any of the people around her probably had no idea how to analyze unknown situations; Sumiko was no exception. It was safe to assume that no one in this room had the ability to perfectly answer all of the questions.

It had been about ten minutes since the start of the test. Sumiko glanced at the Chuunin on either side of the room, watching them silently make little marks on their clipboards, looking for the people who were trying to cheat and doing a horrible job at doing so. She pursed her lips and slid her hands beneath the table, thinking that she was being just as obvious as anyone else.

While her eyes were open and her left hand reached for her pencil and held it ready over the box for the first answer, her mind expanded over the entire room, allowing her to just barely see the thoughts of the people around her. Gently, she probed into the minds of each and every test taker, looking for the perfect person to cheat off of. When she found him, she narrowed her focus and centered the flow of her chakra into him, targeting the nerves to his eyes so she could see.

_Sight-seeing jutsu is a success,_ she thought triumphantly to herself as she watched the man's paper through his own eyes. While she watched, she felt her hand move, flying across her paper as she answered the questions. As she wrote, Sumiko couldn't help but notice smudge marks on the paper of the man she was cheating off of, as well as a small pile of eraser shavings off to the side where he had hastily brushed them off of his paper. Once he had finished writing the answer for the last question, he began to erase his answers and start over.

She released the jutsu and sat back in her seat, looking at her paper. Though every question was answered and she didn't have to worry about failing anymore, there was something that was bugging her. Why had that man been writing and erasing his answers, only to write them again? It didn't make any sense to her. If her brother had seen it, he would have been able to figure it out completely. Or rather, Sumiko just didn't feel like dwelling on it.

Her eyes then flicked to the boy sitting in front of her. The first two fingers of his left hand were pressed against his eye, giving off the impression of a minor headache, though the fact that he looked completely calm and was writing smoothly made Sumiko believe that wasn't the case. He must have developed his own way for cheating; she hadn't even considered him knowing the answers to those questions. Without warning, Gaara glanced back at Sumiko, as though he had known she was staring at him.

Sumiko leaned forward and gave him a lazy grin, to which in response, he merely turned around and continued working. For the next twenty minutes she waited, rocking back in her chair and watching with an indifferent expression as people exited the room, one by one, having been caught in the act of cheating, despite their attempts to cover it up. She sighed and let her chair fall forward; ignoring the fact that she had drawn unwanted attention from the proctor. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds and she shuddered inwardly.

Then he smiled. "It's time for the tenth question," he said, shattering the silence. Everyone looked up from their paper, mixed emotions of relief and apprehension swirling in the air successfully thickening the already dense atmosphere.

"Don't misunderstand," he said seriously. "If you choose to do this question, and you answer incorrectly, you and your comrades will fail this test. However, should you choose to quit, you will have another chance to take this exam again. What I mean is this," he paused, briefly sharing glances with every person in the room. "You will never be able to become a Chuunin should you answer this question incorrectly."

Sumiko leaned forward, burying her face in her hands, taking deep breaths. Not only had her own anxiety taken her breath away, but the sudden uproar of hundreds of different emotions was like taking a hit to the face. It definitely wasn't a pleasant sensation and she found it difficult to listen to what Ibiki was trying to say. She could quit. She could try this another time. Maybe it just wasn't her time to become a Chuunin. Maybe she wasn't ready. How could she be if she couldn't block out the people around her? It had never occurred to her that she might be able to do that; she had never tried. If she ever hoped to get through this exam, she needed to block out the fears of others. They would bring her down.

She peered up from her hands, glancing at the proctor; he was still smiling. Or maybe he had smiled again. How much time had passed since she had put her head down and tried to calm herself?

"Sumiko," she felt a hand on her shoulder. She sat upright and turned to look at her brother, who looked genuinely concerned for the second time that day. "The test is over. You look really pale; are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said passively, turning abruptly, her eyes skimming the room. If the test was over and they had passed, the person she was looking for would have wasted no time leaving. It wasn't like she could sense him very well anyway. When she spotted him—mainly because of his blood red hair—she stood and hurried over to him, ignoring the protests of her older brother. He was standing with his brother and sister, off to the left, obviously waiting for them to stop talking. She wondered why he would wait for them; he didn't seem like the patient type.

"Gaara," she called, walking over to him. Temari and Kankurou looked up in surprise, their eyes falling on Sumiko and she walked towards their little brother. "I was looking for you."

"Why?"

Sumiko shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you about something, but I guess it doesn't matter now." Her gaze shifted to his siblings and she offered them a small smile. "I'm Nara Sumiko."

"We know," Kankurou scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You introduced yourself to us a week ago, remember?"

His sister smacked him on the back of his head. "She's just being nice, Kankurou," she returned Sumiko's smile. "I'm Temari, Gaara's older sister."

"I figured that much," Sumiko crossed her arms over her chest, feeling small and awkward beneath the gazes of the three siblings. "You look older than your brothers, and then I can tell you're the most mature."

Kankurou chuckled, averting his eyes. "You haven't seen her when it's just the three of us."

"Sumiko," Gaara said quietly, interrupting his sister before she could respond, the tone of his voice conveying the fact that he was unsure of himself. "Will you come with me for a moment?"

Sumiko nodded once and followed the youngest of the Sand siblings out of the testing room. They walked through the halls in silence. She could see that Gaara was uncomfortable and though she was curious as to why, she didn't dare ask him about it. He might tell her when they reached the place he was taking her, if he even had a specific destination in mind, and she would wait for that.

After about five minutes of walking aimlessly through a few hallways, Gaara stopped and turned to face her. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he watched her, his arms crossed tightly over his chest in that rigid posture he never strayed from. Sumiko shuffled from one foot to another awkwardly, unable to break the silence that was rapidly growing more suffocating by the minute.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" He finally asked. Sumiko let out a breath and visibly relaxed.

She shrugged. "I don't exactly remember—"

"You're lying." He said, his voice dropping an octave and taking on a dangerous edge. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying, _per se_," she said evasively. "I really don't remember exactly what I wanted to ask you. It was kind of along the lines of 'what are you' or something."

Sumiko took a step back when his eyes narrowed even further. Obviously her response had been a mistake, and though she felt anxious about what he would choose to say next, or rather what he might do, she wasn't exactly scared. Most people would have tried to run for the hills when they saw the look Gaara was giving her, but it didn't faze her like it would have most people. She wasn't 'most people'. She was Sumiko, the girl with a temper as fierce as Gaara's blood lust.

"Why did you say it didn't matter?"

She frowned, having not expected this question. Sumiko bit her lip and thought for a moment, trying to come up with a response that didn't give away the whole truth. If she were to blurt her thoughts out now, she would never figure anything out. In order to keep him where he was now, in arms reach, she needed to keep him wondering. She needed to say things that would make him ask more questions. If she didn't do that, it was almost guaranteed she would never see him again. This meant she would never be able to talk to him again.

This could not happen.

"I guess… because it doesn't matter. Whatever you are, it can't be that bad," she paused and then nodded. "No, it can't be that bad, because if it was, you wouldn't be here, right? You wouldn't get those expressions when I say something you don't quite understand. If you weren't exactly human—or a normal kid—then you wouldn't make an effort to reign it all in; you'd let it take control of you. Whatever it is."

Sumiko was proud of her answer; it was all true. This was something she had actually thought about and considered. Gaara couldn't be a monster; there was something about him that told her the complete opposite. In a strange, twisted sort of way, he reminded her of herself. It was different though; she'd never had that overwhelming urge to kill people, but there had been a time when she was quiet and reserved and short tempered, much like Gaara appeared to be now. His questions were short and to the point, he didn't talk unnecessarily, and she had felt only a fraction of what his anger could be.

No, Gaara was no ordinary human being, but he wasn't a monster either.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked finally, quietly.

"I don't know…" she murmured. "I just get this feeling that…"

She stopped talking and shook her head. "No, it doesn't really matter. I'm holding you up from leaving and preparing for the next test. I'm sure whatever your brother and sister had to say was much more important than what I had to say or what I'm saying now. I'll see you tomorrow, Gaara."


	7. Chapter 7

The shadows felt thicker that night before the second test. The Village Hidden in the Leaves slept soundly beneath their blanket of peaceful ignorance of the trouble that was silently brewing behind their backs, beneath their very noses, the cause for which was living right in the heart of the village, preparing themselves for their next task.

"Is everything going according to plan so far, Baki?"

If a snake could talk, the words that had just hissed through the air would be what it would sound like. The voice was sultry and deep, lilting in such a dangerous way that made cold fingers dance up and down your spine. Baki was not known to be a man who scared easily, but the likes of the criminal before him was enough to make him wish he had never made a deal with the snake.

"It is, Orochimaru-sama," Baki said, his voice trembling slightly with his barely contained apprehension but respectful nonetheless. "We've even come into contact with the girl you mentioned. The Kazekage's son has taken a special interest in her."

Orochimaru chuckled, but it was anything but amused. "I see… please be sure to remind Gaara-kun that she is off limits. Even if he's taken an interest, he won't be able to resist killing her for long, and I have plans for that girl."

"What about Uchiha Sasuke?"

"I have even bigger plans for him," the Sannin responded passively, waving a dismissive hand. "Our plans for him remain the same. However, Sumiko would be an excellent addition to my growing collection of experiments. I've heard stories about her eyes and abilities, but have never seen it for myself… I'm just itching to see how they really work."

Baki shuddered at the unspoken promise within the man's words. He didn't know the girl, nor had he met her, but what little bit of a conscience he had left made him feel—if only slightly—bad for her. His intentions for going along with Orochimaru's plan were not entirely sinister, and if he had not been corresponding with the Sannin, he would not be looking to harm anyone specifically. He felt no loyalty towards the snake standing before him, nor had he ever.

"I'm curious," Orochimaru said suddenly. "Define this 'special interest' your Gaara has taken in the last living member of the Himura clan."

"Temari and Kankurou have told me a few things," Baki said slowly. "When Sumiko and Gaara first met, she touched him without thinking and didn't seem to be scared of him the way everyone else is; you know what Gaara is. The second time around, Gaara took her off somewhere so they could talk. Temari told me earlier that he returned looking angry and confused, the latter emotion being a foreign one."

Orochimaru nodded once and folded his arms across his chest. You could practically see the gears turning in his head, the pieces to the puzzle slowly forming the picture he was trying to see. There was a plan hiding beneath his sinister intentions, and he needed to unearth it. It would, no doubt, speed up the plan to point where he could get his hands on the girl sooner rather than later.

"If Gaara-kun wishes to play with his new toy," Orochimaru said slowly, considering his words before he spoke them, "allow him to do so. It could prove advantageous. If he's had this reaction to her, then without a doubt, she's just as intrigued by him. They'll see each other again."

"What do you mean?"

The Sannin chuckled. "It means that I'm using Gaara-kun as bait to lure in my object of interest; or rather, my prey. Let him do what he wants; just don't let him kill her. I doubt it will get to that point, but make sure one of your children keeps an eye on him when he leaves. It would be best if this is kept secret from them. Make it an order to keep an eye on their brother or something," Orochimaru smiled, though it wasn't a real smile. It was a blood chilling smile that was sinister enough to make your skin crawl. "I'll leave that to you."

"Orochimaru-sama," Baki paused, considering his words. "How much longer do you intend to drag this out?"

The snake man chuckled. "Are you getting cold feet, and so soon? Don't forget what's at stake here, Baki-san," Orochimaru, advancing on the Suna shinobi, leaned forward, his breath fanning across the exposed skin of Baki's neck as he spoke. "If you refuse to comply, or choose to back out so soon into the game, I will throw your village into utter chaos. I will bring it to the brink of destruction. When it gets to the point where it seems as though things will get better, I will slowly kill off every last remaining member of Sunagakure in front of you; forcing you to watch every last one of them bleed to death. I will make you listen to their cries and pleas for mercy. And then when you're the only one alive, I'll force you to remember their deaths. I'll kill you even more slowly than I killed the others, and with every passing second, I'll never fail to remind that the demise of your precious village was all... your... fault."

Baki shuddered again, this time more noticeably. "I-I wasn't thinking of b-backing out, Orochimaru-s-sama."

"That's a good boy," Orochimaru laughed and turned as though he were about to leave, but then he stopped, his expression changing suddenly with the direction his thoughts had taken him. "I want you to make sure those three children have memorized the plan by the time the third portion of the Chuunin Exams arrives. We cannot afford for a single slip-up."

Baki nodded once in response as Orochimaru left in a small puff of smoke. As soon as he was left alone, Baki turned to search for the eldest of the siblings. If what Orochimaru said was to be believed, Gaara would waste no time in trying to see the girl again.

For her sake, he hoped Gaara would get over his fascination.


	8. Chapter 8

The images took root in the forefront of her mind, searing her brain like a poison. It twisted her heart around its cold fingers and squeezed, shortening her breath to painful little gasps. Her skin was pale and glistening with the evidence of her inner struggle. The people surrounding her were worried beyond comprehension; what was going through her mind? Why had she passed out?

Usually when someone passed out, they remember the moments beforehand vaguely and can only really recall the black abyss that had swallowed them whole. But the fact remaining was that Sumiko had not been swallowed by a black abyss; she was being burned by red and sea foam green. The evidence of how many lives had been stolen were painted on the white walls of her prison, and from a distance, she saw a black figure with electric green eyes, conveying the purest form of loathing.

Her heart contracted painfully in her chest as she recognized those eyes. Sumiko tried desperately to forget; pretend she hadn't actually seen what she saw, but it was hopeless. The cries for mercy still echoed in her ears, as well as the cold, heartless voice of the man—no, boy—who had slaughtered them all. She could still feel the warmth of the blood that had found its way to her cheek and splattered there, leaving a lingering feeling of horror and disgust.

Where had her bravery gone? Why had she not stepped out from her hiding place and made him stop? Her earlier preconceptions of who Gaara was had been washed away, only to be replaced by confusion and a foreign kind of pain. What was it that was nagging so incessantly at her heart? Why was it bugging her so; telling her that even as he killed those people, there had been something missing in his cold façade. The image of a killer had taken root in her mind; a true killer, someone who killed for joy and without mercy. A person who would slowly rip every appendage from a human body and cut out every organ, making sure to keep the person alive long enough to suffer the largest amount possible, before allowing them the bliss of death.

But Gaara was not the face of this killer.

Even now, her conscience tried to tell her that he was evil and he was—in fact—the monster that she had once thought him to be; the barren shell of a blood thirsty demon. But her heart desperately cast out those thoughts, trying fruitlessly to convince her that there was no possible way that a boy hardly a year older than her could kill with an empty smile on his face. It was the truth that she so valiantly tried to ignore; the fact that seeing him kill had—for lack of a better description—shaken her so thoroughly. Sumiko couldn't remember a time she had been so scared. And what was worse, she hadn't even feared for herself, but for the killer in front of her.

What would become of him?

"She just passed out," she heard the voices before she felt the presence of the people around her. "We were hiding, waiting until it was clear for us to keep going, and she just fell over."

She heard someone mutter beneath their breath and felt the telltale anger emanating from her brother's familiar mind. "Did she get injured at all during your time in the forest? Did she take a blow to the head?"

It was silent for a few tense seconds. "No, she was always beside Hinata. We didn't fight too much while we were in the forest."

"Sumiko," she heard Shikamaru's voice next to her ear and felt his breath fan across her face. "Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

She groaned. "Your breath stinks."

"She's fine," someone laughed at Shikamaru's disgruntled tone. Sumiko opened her eyes and blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision of the blurry spots. How long had she been out? Her head had struck up a steady beat; a dull aching throb near her temples that made her wish she was still out cold.

"Where am I?"

"In the tower," Shikamaru said, helping his little sister into a sitting position. "Kiba carried you here when you passed out. It's a good thing you woke up. We've passed the second test, but apparently there are still too many candidates. They've decided to do a preliminary test for the third exam. Your round hasn't come up yet, but I'm sure it's going to happen any time now."

Sumiko glanced over at the boy with the puppy and smiled gratefully at him before returning her solemn gaze to her brother. "Who is left?"

"Choji is fighting now against a man named Dosu. It doesn't look too good," Shikamaru cast his eyes down to a large fighting area, where the aforementioned pair was currently battling it out. Though, it didn't look like an even match. Choji was trying valiantly, but the Sound shinobi was on a level of his own. "There is a woman left from Kabuto's squad. She's the last one. I guess you'll be fighting her."

"Do you know anything about her?" Sumiko asked, going down a mental checklist of questions she needed to ask before her match. "Have you seen what weapons she uses? Is she a strategist? Did you meet her directly? What is she like? Does she get angry—"

"Slow down," Shikamaru sighed. "I don't know anything about her. I've only met Kabuto, and he quit before he got the chance to fight. I really can't judge her abilities just by looking at her. However, her teammates are strong, which leads me to believe she's on par with them or better. Watch your back."

"Thanks for the advice," Sumiko said sincerely, holding out her hands in a silent request for someone to help her up. Her older brother was sitting beside her, so Kiba, who was the closest to her besides Shikamaru and standing, grabbed her hands and hauled her to her feet. She gave him another grateful smile and then turned just in time to see Choji lose his battle.

"Did you win, Shika?" Sumiko asked absently, her eyes trailing up to the board that would soon be displaying her name.

Her brother snorted disdainfully. "Who do you take me for? Of course I won."

"Of course you did," Sumiko chuckled and began her descent to the fighting area, wondering if she would be able to make it through the fight. Technically she had taken a nap, if passing out could be qualified as that, so her body felt rested. However, her mind was completely exhausted. There were so many things going through her head, not to mention she couldn't block out the emotions of the people around her. It was piling up, just one thing after another.

It kind of felt like a hopeless situation.

The woman she was facing off against went by the name of Yagami Jun. She was relatively short for her age—Sumiko guessed she was probably close to her twenties—and sported a disdainful air that could wither flowers as she passed. Her hair was presumably long, as it was wrapped in a tight bun at the back of her head, and her skin was lightly tanned as though she were always in the sun. Sumiko ignored the woman's physical features and moved on to her weaponry. The typical shuriken holster was strapped to her right thigh, and a slightly larger pouch that was typical of medical-nin was strapped around her waist. The most noticeable of her accessories, however, was the katana strapped to her back.

"I'm fighting a little girl?" The woman scoffed, resting her hands on her hips. She cocked her head slightly to the right, examining Sumiko. In truth the younger Nara sibling appeared much younger than she actually was. Her hair fell in little ebony ringlets to her shoulders, framing her face in such a way that effectively made her crimson eyes—which was her most striking feature—appear brighter and wider. Sumiko's pupils dilated into little slits as her irritation with the woman spiked, but her expression remained passive.

"Begin!"

Sumiko immediately moved into her taijutsu style fighting stance, pressing her right forearm to the small of her back and raising her left hand, palm up. Her eyes never once faltered, never wavered from the staring match the pair was currently undergoing. Jun slid to the left, and Sumiko mimicked her movement, but instead of going left, she moved to the right. They circled each other, staring each other down, trying to find some sort of opening before the other.

"Do you plan on fighting little girl, or do you just want to keep dancing?" Jun goaded, a perfectly manicured eyebrow twitching upwards, the only sign of her amusement. Sumiko grit her teeth and tried again, harder this time, to reach into the woman's mind. She had been trying this entire time, but it was only now that the effort was becoming obvious on her face. Her skin was still ghostly from her previous inner struggle, and her current struggle only seemed to worsen her pallor.

This woman, whoever she was and wherever she had come from, had taken precautionary measures against Sumiko, which could only mean she had somehow become privy to the information very few people knew.

Sumiko gnashed her teeth together harder, willing her head to stop throbbing for just a moment so she could concentrate. How she wished she could block out everyone at that moment; the emotions of not only herself but of the people around her were pulling her in every which direction, effectively making her usually calm mind a freaking warzone. It was infuriating, and while her tactic to bring down an opponent was usually to make them mad, it seemed now she was doing it to herself.

Before Yagami Jun could even blink, Sumiko lunged forward, flipping onto her hands as she did so. She allowed her bodyweight to carry her down, kicking her feet as she went. Jun gasped in surprise and held up her hands to defend herself as she moved back, but Sumiko wouldn't let her get far. She hit the ground on her back and rolled onto her side, reaching with her hands. Jun sidestepped the Nara's grab for her ankles, but stumbled when she backed into Sumiko's legs. Sumiko leaped to her feet and tackled the woman, her goal now within reach.

Her hands moved together to form a hand seal, then she slammed her left hand against Jun's chest, taking only a small amount of satisfaction from watching the woman wince in pain. Sumiko dug her knees into the woman's sides to distract her with pain, effectively giving her time to focus. She allowed her chakra to flow through her hand and seep into the woman below her. Sumiko felt it drain from her body, but didn't feel exhausted because of it, mainly because before it reached Jun's mind, her chakra bounced back and returned to its owner, forcing her to fall backwards.

Jun laughed, scrambling from the ground and moving away from Sumiko. "I've come prepared, freak. I know what you can do."

Sumiko sighed and allowed herself a short moment of relaxation, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. If she focused enough, she could feel the woman's presence. Whoever had prepared her for a fight with the Nara had certainly done a sloppy job at doing so. If Sumiko concentrated enough, she could see the small holes within the woman's defense, and figured if she attacked those openings, she could win. It was a matter of pinning the woman down, though. For sure, she was wary of Sumiko now, knowing that even without her gift she was well versed in taijutsu. Jun herself didn't have much practice with hand-to-hand combat, mostly relying on her ninjutsu and her katana when everything else failed.

Neither of them really considered just how much of an even match they were.

"That's okay," Sumiko said quietly, speaking to her opponent for the first time since their match had begun, "most people know what I can do, though I don't really know why. However, what is not widely known is the fact that you can block me out. How did you know that?"

"A little birdie told me," Jun murmured tantalizingly.

Sumiko sighed and decided it was time to stop the small talk and put her plan into motion. She lunged forward, repeating her plan in her mind over and over, trying to work out the holes in it as she attacked Jun. The woman was good at blocking, but Sumiko didn't fail to notice the fact that she never struck back when she tried to hit her. Sumiko hit the ground and then thrust herself upwards, launching herself into the air. Her hands moved quickly, forming the hand seal for a quick jutsu.

She flipped as she came down against the ground and flames burst up around her. Sumiko rolled and flipped onto her hands and began turning, scraping her feet against the ground, kicking up more flames. They swirled menacingly around her, seething with barely contained heat. Her eyes were closed with her concentration, trying to sense exactly where her opponent was. Her strike needed to be exact. She removed one of her hands from the ground and flung it to the left, guiding the chakra infused flames with her hand in the direction of Jun.

A telltale scream told her she had hit her target. Sumiko flipped over onto her feet, the flames breaking apart and dispersing in midair. She could feel Jun's confusion, which meant that not only was the mind barrier fading now, but it also meant she hadn't expected Sumiko to use any ninjutsu; her plan had worked. Though, there was an obvious downside. Now that she had revealed the fact that she was indeed capable of ninjutsu, the woman was even more wary.

Jun cradled her left hand against her chest, sparing a few angry seconds to glare at the burnt appendage. It had been her opponent's excessive use of taijutsu that had made her feel like the Nara was hardly a threat. It had given her a false sense of security, forcing her into a state of panic when those flames had swirled up to greet her. Her anger seared through her veins, thick and poisonous. Jun reached behind her and pulled her katana from its sheath.

Sumiko was running out of time. There were only so many jutsu she could perform before she physically began to tire out. Jun couldn't sense her fatigue yet, but if she didn't end this match soon, Sumiko would go down without even having to be hit. It would be embarrassing and probably fatal, therefore she needed to think up a new strategy and enact it as quickly as was possible.

Jun lunged forward, swinging her katana dangerously close to Sumiko's face as she ducked, dropping to the ground and rolling away from the jabs. The Nara could hardly think in her current situation; Jun was relentless in her attacks, swinging her sword left and right viciously, as though she were picturing Sumiko was directly in front of her, unmoving; or rather, unable to move. A sadistic smile appeared on the older woman's face; she could almost hear the child's cries. It was like music to her ears.

"What's wrong?" Jun sneered, stabbing her sword particularly close to Sumiko. "Afraid of a few cuts?"

Unable to respond—due to the fact that she was preoccupied with surviving Jun's attacks—Sumiko merely grimaced and flipped backwards, somersaulting a safe distance away from her opponent and her katana. Jun leaned forward, stabbing her sword into a crack in the ground, and pressed her unburned hand against her knee. Both girls were breathing heavily; the battle had been going on for close to an hour. Everyone around them was watching with rapt attention, surprised at the outcome. Jun was physically wounded and appeared fatigued; Sumiko was physically unharmed and appeared to be extremely fatigued. Her breath was coming in short little gasps and her eyelids felt heavy.

Things were not looking good for the younger Nara.

Sumiko took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, centering herself, trying to block everyone's emotions. She focused her chakra, directing the flow upwards, forming a sheath around her brain. When she opened her eyes, her surroundings were a little fuzzy, but the incessant barrage of emotions had dulled enough to where she could think properly. It wasn't a foolproof barrier, and its disadvantage was impaired vision, but it would be enough. Sumiko just couldn't take the distraction of the people around her anymore.

If she won this battle, she would spend her time focusing on how to protect her own mind. If she lost this battle, she would recuperate and then focus on how to protect her mind. Either way, she would need to train, regardless of whether she won or lost.

Her hands merged, forming a quick, easy hand seal for what she knew would be her last jutsu. Her chakra reserves were nearly empty, due to her attempt at blocking everyone out. Sumiko took a deep breath and raised her left hand to her lips.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu*," Sumiko breathed out and the air ignited, sending forth a constant stream of flames. It had the desired effect—which was to throw Jun off balance—but was not exactly what Sumiko had been aiming for. Her original intent was to create a huge fireball and send it forward, but her remaining chakra was not enough to power such a jutsu. When she released the jutsu, she took her chances and lurched forward, catching her opponent—just barely—off guard. She tackled the woman to the ground and slammed her palms against her chest, forcing her remaining chakra into the woman.

Jun shrieked obscenities, writing beneath the younger Nara, but was unable to free herself. Her nerves were on fire; her entire body felt as though it had just been dipped into a bowl of water and then struck by lightning. Her eyes snapped shut and she grit her teeth, willing her body to just _move_. Blindly she reached for her katana, gripping the hilt when her hand finally found her beloved sword. She opened her eyes, and realizing that her opponent could hardly see and was about to pass out anyway, she slashed her sword upwards. Sumiko's eyes widened in pain and shock and she looked down, unable to register the severity of her situation.

Her torso was on fire, and the front side of her clothing was beginning to turn red with the amount of blood that was coming from her. Jun pushed the younger Nara off of her, sliding away from her opponent, a mixed expression of disgust and admiration adorning her features. Sumiko tumbled to the ground, her already blurry vision turning black at the edges. It would be the second time she had passed out that day. It was almost embarrassing.

"Yagami Jun is the winner of the final preliminary round,"

Her hearing was slowly fading away. Her chakra flow was still centered around her head, so she couldn't sense when her brother ran up beside her and tried to keep her awake, snapping at her, telling her how stupid and troublesome she was; reminding her that she still had things to do at the Academy and that she was going to be okay but she just needed to stay awake.

Sumiko wanted to say something, but it felt like there was a wad of cloth in her throat. Her mouth was terribly dry; she couldn't even open her mouth. Her eyes rolled blindly, searching for her brother. Everything was blurry, and though she could see his figure, she couldn't see anything else. She could feel her body being lifted onto a stretcher; she wondered briefly if she really was going to be okay. Even though she had just been sliced across the chest, she couldn't feel anything.

Weren't fatal wounds supposed to hurt like hell?

Everything just kept getting darker and darker, and the sounds around her began to fade into nothing except for a dull ringing. She knew that if she woke up, she would receive an earful from her older brother. A vague sense of happiness surged through her at the thought of being scolded by her brother before everything faded into nothing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys. It's been a few days. I'm terrified of this chapter. Curious as to why? Well, I think I might have made Gaara a little OOC. I mean, he's acting like he would after his encounter with Naruto. But to an extent, what I've done here is very strategic. This chapter and Gaara's actions will fuel the events of the rest of this story. Hopefully though it doesn't make you guys leave. I know a lot of people who absolutely HATE canon characters being OOC. But it's not too bad.**

**I hope.**

**Please enjoy.**

* * *

**Why is it so hard**  
**To find someone**  
**Who cares about you?**

** _Three Days Grace, Someone Who Cares_**

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she realized two things; one, she was on fire and two, the person sitting beside her was positively livid. Sumiko refused to look at her older brother, knowing that she would be acknowledging the fact that she had been careless. Unlike most people who woke up in her state, she could remember everything that had happened.

Sumiko tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but the pain that ripped through her chest restricted her from moving even a finger. She released a painstaking sigh and, resigning herself to the fact that she would have to be yelled at sooner or later, let her eyes slide to her brother who was silently fuming in the seat beside her uncomfortable hospital bed.

In her lifetime she had only been to the hospital two times. The first time had been entirely her fault, though she chose to deny it, since she had been distracted when she was climbing one of the highest trees in Konoha and then fell off once she reached the top. Her brother had been in a similar state to the one he was currently in: a mixture between relief and fury. Sumiko knew she could only avoid him for so long.

"Remember the last time I was here?" Sumiko asked, trying yet again to avoid the conversation she knew was coming. Shikamaru grunted, unable to speak but choosing to acknowledge her.

She smiled to herself. "It was your fault that time," she said. "We were chasing each other around the garden. I had one of your favorite toys and I wouldn't give it back. You decided to use that stupid new technique that father taught you. You ended up messing up and I tripped and broke my arm."

"I was angry at you that time," she said, turning her head to look at Shikamaru. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was disheveled, a few stray strands of hair having come loose from his usual neat ponytail. His clothes were wrinkled in odd and random places and his posture was rigid, as though he just couldn't get comfortable.

"I guess it's your turn," Sumiko said. "Come on, lay it on me; tell me how stupid I am and troublesome. I can take it."

Without warning, Shikamaru leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Sumiko's shoulders, carefully avoiding making contact with her wound or handling her roughly. If it had been anyone else, they would have forgotten about her situation completely, but her ever mindful older brother knew all too well why his sister was in the hospital. But despite his anger at her recklessness, he just couldn't stay angry with her. The relief that had flooded through his body when she had _finally _opened her eyes after a week had been so staggering that he could barely believe he had even been able to move.

"You're right," he muttered into her shoulder. "You're painfully stupid and far too troublesome for my taste," he shifted so he could look at her, chocolate brown eyes meeting crimson ones. "The fact that you're my sister barely has anything to do with the reason I deal with you though."

Sumiko frowned in utter confusion. This was so not what she had been expecting to hear from her older brother. Shikamaru was the type—around her—to air his grievances and then make her feel better about the things he said, because sometimes he could get really mean, and there had been a few times where he had made her cry. But this was completely different. He was choosing his words carefully, but she knew that none of them were for her sake entirely. He was telling the complete, unabridged truth. Just how long had she been asleep for?

"Shikamaru," she wished she could raise her hands and push him away, but she didn't have the strength, nor did she have the bravery to feel that fire again. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"It's because you're not my sister," he whispered, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against hers in the way they used to do as children. Sumiko's breath hitched in her throat; another thing she hadn't expected to hear. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything. You're supposed to find out on your own, but we both know—and have known—that there was something wrong."

"What's bringing this on?" Sumiko tried to hide the tremor in her voice, but she couldn't. "Why are you telling me this? Why couldn't you have just yelled at me and let things be simple?"

Shikamaru leaned away from Sumiko and sat back down in his chair, folding his hands beneath his chin. His eyes stared out the window across from him, though he wasn't looking at anything in particular. His thoughts had dragged him back to his time in the waiting room, where he had been considering what he would do if Sumiko hadn't woken up. Her wound had been deep and even the medical-nin, who were usually so calm and composed in situations such as those, had been in a milder but similar state of panic. Their consoling words had done nothing to ease Shikamaru's fears when they had confirmed that Sumiko was alive and just needed to rest.

He hadn't left her side since they'd finished healing her.

"I was thinking… while you were asleep for the past few days," Shikamaru began, his voice quiet. "You don't know anything about yourself, and I couldn't help but say to myself, 'how is that fair to you?'"

Shikamaru's eyes slid to his sister, staring at her in such a way that made her feel uncomfortable. He'd always had that shrewd gleam in his eyes, but this time it was like he was looking straight through her. It wasn't a feeling she particularly enjoyed, mainly because when he looked at her like that, he really could guess what she was thinking.

"It's not fair," he said finally, breaking eye contact. "It's not fair that you've had to go through life hated and not knowing why. Even if you knew why it wouldn't change what others felt, but it would have at least let you know that it wasn't your fault. You could have died," his voice broke. "You… you could have died never knowing that it _wasn't your fault_."

Sumiko slid her hand across the surface of her bed and stretched as far as she could without crying out in pain. Her fingers just barely grazed the tops of Shikamaru's hand, but he understood what she wanted. He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, leaning forward to rest his head on the edge of the bed. It was the fact that his face was hidden from her view that he allowed a few tears to well up and stream down his face. His body shuddered involuntarily and he felt her hand tighten around his.

Sumiko didn't entirely know what had brought this out of Shikamaru. Her normally reserved brother had always claimed to never have enough energy to get upset over things; upsetting things were such a drag. This situation before her was something she'd never had to deal with. Shikamaru just wasn't that kind of person. How severe had her condition been?

"It doesn't matter to me, Shika," Sumiko said softly, her voice a strange mixture between contentment and sadness. "We're not related by blood; I've known that for a while, now. Remember a year or so ago when we were hiding and eavesdropping? I knew it even before then. I was just too different. I'd met the family, lived with all of you for eleven years. But even now I still don't care," her voice faded and Shikamaru looked up at her, staring at her expression in confusion.

"Why don't you care?"

"I'm hated," she shrugged and winced, regretting the movement immediately. "But aren't shinobi hated and loved anyway? We're strong and weak; we're only human. I figured they hated me because of my gift. I don't know what it is or why I can do it, but they know and they're afraid. I'm scared of them because of that hate they hold for me, and I still have nightmares. Those will never go away. But I'm reassured by you and only you because I knew for a fact that, despite us being truly brother and sister or not, you would always be there for me. If I called you would answer. That was—and still is—enough for me."

Shikamaru sighed and used his free hand to push his hair out of his face. He had spent days going over what he would tell her, expecting her to want to know about herself more than she actually did. If it were him, he would want to know at least where he had come from, but she was completely sincere. He could see it written all over her face; she genuinely didn't care. This was something he had not anticipated, and Shikamaru was rarely caught off guard.

It was then that the nurse chose to walk in. "Shikamaru-san, visiting hours are over. I'm afraid we have to ask you to go home now."

Shikamaru clicked his teeth in annoyance. "She just woke up. Can't I just stay another night?"

"You don't sleep properly when you're here," the nurse said with a fond smile. "What you do at your house though, I can't control. You need to go home and get some rest. You're sister will be in good hands with me."

Sumiko grimaced and released her grasp on Shikamaru's hand. "She's right, Shika. You look like crap."

"She did not say that," her brother grumbled, but as he stood he offered her a small smile, in which she responded with a toothy grin. "Try to get some more rest, if that's even possible. Get better quick so I don't have to worry about you. It's too troublesome."

"I'll try my best," Sumiko said happily, deciding not to do her usual grossed out act when her brother leaned down and kissed her forehead. He waved over his shoulder and left without another word, leaving Sumiko alone with the nurse. As the woman worked over Sumiko, her mind drifted to earlier, before she and her brother had been interrupted.

If she was honest with herself, she had always been curious about her past, but it just didn't matter a whole lot to her. Why would she bother to keep looking back when she could just look ahead? There was no need to worry about her past because she just knew it would hurt. That's what the past did to people right; it hurt them because they had to remember old regrets and mistakes. What was the point in subjecting oneself to that? Sumiko was content with knowing that her brother would never abandon her, and was happy with her life. Sure the people around her were kind of cruel, and there had been more than one occasion where said cruelty had become physical, but she was happy.

If there was even the slightest possibility that her past would ruin her happiness, then she didn't want to know what had happened before she had become old enough to remember everything. To be frank, she really wasn't even old enough to have a past. What she could remember was her time with the Nara family and all the times she'd played with her older brother in the garden and all the moments she'd shared with her parents. The times when Yoshino had rocked her to sleep in her arms after she'd tripped and gotten hurt and needed comfort; the times when Shikaku would sit her on his lap and tell her stories, both fictitious and real, and make her smile and laugh; the times with Shikamaru when her nightmares had begun and she would wake him up in the middle of the night crying and he would hold her and tell her that none of it was real and that it was going to be okay.

Because it was always okay in the end.

Sumiko let out a long breath and turned her head to stare out of the window. The nurse had long since left, having changed her patient's bloody bandages and shifted her into a slightly more comfortable position without hurting her too much. Sumiko was now left with nothing to do and no one to talk to.

Despite her awkward position, she felt comfortable. Her body was numb with the medication that was currently flowing through her veins via IV. Her eyelids felt heavy and she knew that if she allowed her eyes to shut for longer than five minutes, she would fall asleep. But there was something nagging at her; a strange feeling. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her skin tingled slightly. It was the kind of feeling you got when you knew that someone was watching you but you couldn't see them.

The silence in the room was enough to make her ears ring slightly. Her ability to sense anything had been dulled by the medication and she was completely defenseless; if someone had come to finish her off, it would just happen.

But now she was letting her irrational fears get the better of her. Who would take the time out of their night to kill her? Obviously if someone had wanted her dead, she'd be dead by now. She couldn't exactly turn over—due to her idiotic request for a bunch of pillows to be bunched up beneath her so she could face the window without turning her head; she found that the ceiling and walls were slightly more boring than the scenery outside the window. The icky feeling she was getting was coming from behind her in the direction of the door that allowed entrance into her room.

"Whoever you are," she said quietly, her words just barely slurring together. "You need to show yourself. I'll warn you now that I have mind powers and I can kill you where you stand."

"You're lying,"

Her body stiffened immediately at those words—or rather, the voice that had made those words. Sumiko didn't want to see him; her heart beat erratically in her chest, making it feel as though the wound across her chest had its own pulse. Now her irrational fears didn't seem so irrational. Had he come here to kill her? He was certainly capable of it; she'd seen just how capable he was with her own two eyes.

"How would you know?" She snapped angrily. "You're not the mind reader here."

"And you are?"

Gaara came into view then, dragging the same chair her brother had sat in earlier. Before he sat down, he took the gourd that was strapped to his back and leaned it against the wall, then he rested his chin on the tops of his hands and stared at her; she stared right back, her eyes like daggers. She hated to say it, but despite her new found wariness of him, she still didn't fear for herself as much as she should. He'd killed those men in the forest without blinking an eye. He was a killer and he was surely here to kill her; his blood lust was evident to her, even in her half delirious state.

"Possibly," she responded, pursing her lips. "Why are you here, Gaara? Are you here to finish what that woman started? God knows you're certainly capable. I saw you kill those men in the forest."

He didn't flinch or acknowledge her words at all. "I have no reason for being here."

"That makes no sense," she raised a single eyebrow, wishing like hell that she could move, though she was restricted by two things: her wounded state (as well as the pillows) and the fact that the only thing covering her now was a thick wrap of bandages around her chest and a thin blanket. If she were to sit up, if she even had the strength, a vast majority of her stomach would show.

He frowned but didn't say anything. It was true that he hadn't expected her to be awake, and that had indeed set him back in his original intentions. Gaara was not the type of guy to confess the fact that he could not entirely understand some of the things that people said to him. Sumiko was one of the few people that with just one word could stop him from killing them. It was true that he was utterly at a loss for many things, including words, when he was around her. If he didn't have a question, he merely didn't speak. In those moments of silence, he found himself trying to think of a question to ask her.

"Can I ask you something?" She said before he could open his mouth. He nodded once.

"Why can't I read your mind?"

"What?"

She pursed her lips again, thinking of a better way to phrase her question. "I don't exactly understand why I can do what I do, but for some unfathomable reason, I cannot see into your head. I want to know why. You're here for the Chuunin Exams, which means that your higher-ups briefed you on what to expect. Did they give you some sort of jutsu or technique to block me out?"

"You're making no sense," he said. Sumiko grimaced and opened her mouth, but closed it, deciding against the question that had nearly made its way past her lips.

He noticed it. "What?"

"Help me sit up," she said, her voice quiet, hoping he wouldn't hear her and would just not bother to ask her again, but it was so quiet in the room that her heartbeat was nearly audible. Gaara hesitated for a few seconds before deciding to ignore the warning signals in his mind. He stood and grabbed her shoulders, unsure of how to proceed and pulled her up. Sumiko pressed the palms of her hands to the mattress to steady herself. When Gaara began to move away and sit back down, she grabbed his wrists and tugged him closer to her.

He stumbled forward and nearly fell on top of her, but his reflexes kicked in at the last second and he stopped himself, his face just centimeters from hers. Their eyes met and gazes locked; neither one of them spoke. Sumiko pursed her lips and then leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Gaara's and closing her eyes, trying to concentrate. Under normal circumstances, she would never have done this and Gaara never would have allowed it. However, both of them seemed to not be themselves. Sumiko was half delirious on medication and Gaara was warring with himself, one side encouraging him to let this girl keep doing what she was doing to him, the other side screaming at him; demanding that he break this foolish attachment and kill her right then and there.

"What are you?" Sumiko whispered, not moving, barely breathing.

"What do you think?"

Sumiko grimaced at his bitter tone. Her hands tightened around his wrists and she opened her eyes. Even in the dark, his eyes were still that perplexing shade of sea foam green. She released her grip on his wrists and rested her palms on either side of his face. Gaara didn't move, but he didn't look comfortable or happy about his current situation. Sumiko took a deep breath and concentrated her chakra in her hands, similar to the way medical-nin healed people. He could literally feel her in his mind; it wasn't a pleasant sensation. He had no idea why he was allowing her to do what she was doing; what if she was able to get into his mind? There was no doubt that she would try to learn everything she could about him.

He couldn't let her learn the things that he'd have to kill her for.

Gaara grit his teeth and tried to pull away from her, but she thread her fingers through his hair and yanked harshly, making him hiss in part anger, part pain.

"Stop that," he growled, wrapping his hands around her wrists. Sumiko could practically feel the bruises forming, but she didn't stop and only held onto him tighter. She could feel herself moving through his mind, but it didn't look like she was making progress. She almost felt lost; there was nothing to see. It was black in his mind, and though she had to fight her way through, there was nothing to hide. Her grip on him slackened and she fell back, exhausted, her chest heaving. Gaara stumbled away from her and glared at her, his lip curling slightly in anger.

"I'll kill you," he hissed, feeling his blood boil.

"Do it," she said quietly. Sumiko opened her eyes and stared at him. "Kill me just like you killed those men. I won't give you the satisfaction of screaming, though. It'll be your loss on that one." She paused, waiting for him to do something, but he just stood there. "Are you a liar now, Gaara?"

"Shut up," he took a step forward and wrapped one of his hands around her throat and pulled her up, leaning down so their eyes met. "Are you suicidal?"

"On a scale of one to ten," Sumiko mused, a sarcastic smile playing at the edges of her mouth. "I'd give it a five when I'm around you. You fascinate me and I can't help but want to figure you out. I'm at a disadvantage right now; you could kill me if you really wanted to. But even if I can't read your mind, even if you are just an empty shell; I can see that you can't do it. Why just me? How can you kill those men, who begged for your mercy, but refuse to kill me, who asks you and gives you permission?"

His hand tightened slightly and her lips twitched into a smile, one that appeared more genuine than the last. Gaara frowned but didn't let go. Her breath was short, restricted by the hand at her throat, but she didn't fight him. Her arms hung limply by her sides and her eyes remained locked on his.

"You don't know anything about me," he growled.

"I want to."

"I'll kill you."

"Do I look like I care?" She raised a single eyebrow and grimaced, finally feeling the discomfort of being unable to breathe freely.

"You're suicidal," he said. "You don't know what's best for you."

"And you know?" She asked with a quiet laugh. "How can someone I barely know, know what's best for me?"

"I never claimed to," his grip tightened again. "Don't assume things."

"I didn't—" she gasped, "—assume anything. I just know that—you're the type—to think—they're better than—everybody. You think you—know everything."

He released her, throwing her back against her bed. She hissed in pain, her eyes closing against the black spots that danced across her vision. Sumiko's hands closed into fists, twisting into the sheets, waiting for the pain to disappear. Her sudden movement coupled with the force of being pushed onto the bed was enough to make her want to give into the blackness that had rushed upon her.

"Mother of…" she gasped and opened her eyes, turning to glare at the boy standing beside her. "You should have finished choking me before you did that. It would have made the pain a whole lot easier to bear."

"You're the same," he said quietly, turning away from her. "Because of what you say you can do, you think you know everything just by looking at someone. How can you say for sure that there isn't something everyone is hiding? Even your brother."

"Shut up," Sumiko snapped. "Now you're assuming things."

"I don't think I am," he glanced at her. "I think I'm right in the things I'm saying. If what I'm saying is all assumptions and hasn't been made fact then I wouldn't say these things. But I know I'm right. Everyone has something they want to hide; something they're willing to take to their grave. If they want it to be kept secret that bad, not even you can find out what is it that they're hiding."

"What are you trying to say?"

Gaara turned and leaned over her, moving so close that she could feel the heat of his body. Briefly she wondered how someone who could act so cold could be so warm.

"Stop trying," he whispered, his eyes narrowing, "and give up. Don't try to figure out things you'll never be able to understand."

"What?"

He pushed away from her and began to leave. "Sometimes the things you find out will end up getting you killed."

"I already told you I didn't care," Sumiko snapped angrily. "Stop telling me that."

"You may not care," he said, opening the door. "But other people might."

With those last words, that sounded completely strange coming out of Gaara's mouth, he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind himself.


End file.
